East body may rent out space for mobile towers

Even as the three civic bodies are gearing up to crack down upon the illegal mobile phone towers amid a raging debate over the harmful effect of radiation, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation is planning to promote them.

The east Delhi body has proposed to offer the terrace of corporation buildings for installing mobile phone towers to ramp up revenues.

The proposal states that all buildings housing the offices of the civic body, barring hospitals and schools, should be rented out to telecom companies to set up mobile towers.

The proposal, which will be presented before the house on Tuesday, officials said a proper survey and identification exercise will be conducted.

As per their estimates, the telecom companies require 600-800 square feet of space for mobile towers.

“East Corporation has a number of buildings located in residential, institutional and commercial areas. The rooftops of such buildings can be rented out to telecom companies to generate revenue,” said a senior official.

The move comes at a time when there is a debate raging in the country on the effects of radiation emanating for mobile phone towers.

While some experts claim that cell phone radiation can cause disorders such as sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue, joint pains and even cancer, others say that there is no proven connect between radiation and health.

In Delhi, several RWAs are trying to get mobile towers removed from their area over fear of radiation.

The three municipal corporations have been planning to remove illegal mobile towers that have come up in the past few years without permission from the civic bodies.

There are about 5,500 mobile towers under the civic areas out of which about 2,500 are unauthorized. So far, the North body has sealed 17 towers while its East counterpart has sealed 11.

If the proposal is passed, the east body will organise an open bidding through which the highest bidder will be awarded the space to install towers.